HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA (ETR:HBH) surges 7.4%; private companies who own 35% shares profited along with institutions

A look at the shareholders of HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA (ETR:HBH) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 35% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 7.4% increase in the stock price last week, private companies profited the most, but institutions who own 29% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about HORNBACH Holding KGaA.

See our latest analysis for HORNBACH Holding KGaA

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About HORNBACH Holding KGaA?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

HORNBACH Holding KGaA already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of HORNBACH Holding KGaA, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in HORNBACH Holding KGaA. Hornbach Familientreuhand GmbH is currently the company's largest shareholder with 25% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 11% and 10% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Albrecht Hornbach directly holds 0.7% of the total shares outstanding.

On looking further, we found that 51% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of HORNBACH Holding KGaA

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful €298m stake in this €2.2b business. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 22% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over HORNBACH Holding KGaA. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 35%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that HORNBACH Holding KGaA is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.